What I've Learned of Hope

it's this time of year that gets me.

trying not to think about the short days, the long nights,
the gray skies, and the dropping temperatures.

I know.
there is beauty in this barren winter landscape, too.

but during these few cold months I find it hard to hold on to the hope of that beauty.

right now it's easy to be filled with Christmas lights, family, and the joy of all the festivities.

but what about the following months of bitter cold?
how do we hold on to hope even through hopelessness?

what I've learned of hope is that sometimes our hearts are too
weak to hold it themselves.
sometimes hope does not come from within ourselves.

sometimes it is He -
He the ultimate Hope.

He who fills us, renews us, and brings us slowly, surely,
into His light.
into His hope.

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." ~ Romasn 8:18

as we look forward to celebrating His birth
may we also look inward and find our Hope -
not in the things He has created -
but in Him who was created,
for us,
and may we be filled with His hope.

...love, anna...

Read My Scars & Listen to My Wounds

Whoever reads this, I really hope you take this to heart.

I want to talk about being a sensitive person.
Don't roll your eyes.

I am a very sensitive person - always have been, always will be - and though there are many times I wish I could change this about myself -
I'm not going to apologize for it.

In a world where we are berrated for being vulnerable,
in a world where circumstances and people give us every reason to be cynical,
in a world where we are taught to "grit our teeth and bear it" -

I am completely aware of pain.  My pain, your pain -
the world's pain.

Being sensitive does not mean that I am weak.
It means that I see, acknowledge, and feel deeply and excruciatingly.

Shedding tears over hurt is not pathetic.
It simply means I'm a human being who feels.

This is not to say that less sensitive people are any less capable of feeling than I am.  Or that I don't have my own issues with insecurity.

I am simply so tired of people's refusal to read each other's scars & listen to each other's wounds.

We are human.  We are fragile.

I will not and cannot ever apologize for being a sensitive person.
And I have absolutely no reason to.

I know this is rambling and poorly written, but to anyone out there suffering because you've been told to "just get over it" -
let me tell you,
I see your pain
and I acknowledge it.

I challenge you to love genuinely, to be sensitive, and to be aware of other's pain.

End rant.

...love, anna...